Queer indie-folk artist Alice Cotton is carving up the country’s regional music scene with her infectious and off-kilter music.

Cotton, on her latest single My Turn, says “The more I pursue music the more I feel disempowered and boggled by the industry. This song is about claiming space to be an artist and a writer and that I do it for my own sake, not to play the game. So, it’s about defiance and staying grounded - I do this because I have something to say. I want to be like Mavis Staples, old and joyful, pushing into my 80s and writing and performing again and again”

Growing up in Australia’s tropical Darwin, Northern Territory, Alice Cotton would write songs as a child about her everyday world; mouldy pillows and fly-screen doors. Her family encouraged her, with her father marking his daily routine by the schedule of radio shows, her mother showing her to write poetry as Tracey Chapman had.

The independent and community-minded artist is known for her playful and thoughtful lyrics about family dogs, queer love, and a constant day-dreaming of food.

And it’s not just about her own music. The community-mind artist and Registered Music Therapist was the recent recipient of an Arts Access Award, commending for her work providing professional development and creative performance workshops for neuro-diverse musicians in Darwin.
“Cotton has the quality that Paul Kelly and Stella Donnelly have whereby it seemingly feels like she’s narrating the mundane moment in life and relationships that we’ve all been through and then – POW – you’re hit with the depth and breadth of her storytelling” – Nkechi Anele, triple j